UKIPT Newcastle: Day 1B, level 3 & 4 updates (blinds 100-200)

6.34pm: End of level and exitsAs we make the halfway point of the day let's take a look at some of the players that have fallen by the wayside in the last level; Robert Charlton, Bartosz Wiczkowski, Mikhail Lobanov, Allen Loi, John Pellegrini, Daniel Ward, Mark Herron, Thomas Muller, Joseph O'Neill and Ronald Lawton.

Join us in a new post shortly. -- RD

6.25pm: Chip counts from the upper roomThe tables are pretty tightly packed in the upper room, making it quite hard to get to some tables. Nonetheless here are some chip counts from around the room: Sam Razavi (15,300), Matthew McDerra (3,900), Marc Convey (13,400), Mike Hill (14,500) and James Browning (21,500), the latter saying: "It's been a good start but then the same happened in Cork and I found a way to mess that up." -- NW

Browning - trying not to mess this one up

6.13pm: Big pairs fare well for Burland and WealthallJamie Burland is up to 26,000 after getting three streets of value with pocket aces on a Q♠9♥7♥3♠6♥ board. Wealthall had a similar experience with pocket kings and is now up to 28,000. Not even just a pretty face. -- RD

6pm: Murdoch part of the ace teamMurdoch Aitchinson has doubled up courtesy of Mark Stott. I only saw the river action but with the board reading 5♠A♥5♥J♦[10c] Atchinson moved all-in for 5,525 and was called by Stott. Both had powerful hands but Atchinson's A♦5♦ was ahead of Stott's A♣J♥. -- NW

5.58pm: Lots of medium stacksEverywhere I look stacks are adding up to 20,000. Max Silver? 20,000. Alun Bowden? 20,000. Sinem Melin? 20,000. Surely someone can break that cycle? Step forward Rupinder Bedi. He's down to 5,000 and grumbling about how long each hand is taking. -- RD

Sinem Melin: eyes on the action

5.50pm: Pushing up the daisiesPlayers who are out and therefore dead to us - at least until the next tournament - are Tim Bettingen, Anthony Long, Catherine Johnston, Xenophon Constantinou, David Montague, Padraig O'Neill, Rene Gisbertz, Scott Elsden, Richard Pearson and Christopher Sewell. -- NW

5.40pm: You might remember me from such UKIPT's as, well, all of themA permanent fixture on the UKIPT circuit is the host Nick Wealthall if you've seen any of the footage on Channel 4 he's the presenter and the man who does the commentary along with Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree.

Due to the fact that this UKIPT isn't being filmed he's taken the opportunity to play the event. He was struggling after two levels but he's shown some bouncebackability as he's now on 13,000. Please don't let him win though because if he does he'll have to interview himself. -- NW

Wealthall - on the up

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200

5.25pm: George too loose?Rupinder 'George' Bedi is down to around 5,000 after a move went wrong. "Emptied the clip, oops," he tweeted. -- NW

5.15pm: Thew wins three-wayJulian Thew is up to around 17,500. I just saw him win a small pot betting 800 into a pot of 1,250 on a board of Q♦4♦5♠J♠ it was enough to get both Gerard Connolly and Jack Mcdermott to fold. -- NW

5.06pm: Bowden bites backAlun Bowden just won a nice pot from Richard Pearson after flopping a set of tens on a Q♣T♥9♠ flop and raising Pearson's 575 c-bet to 2,500. Both players checked the blank 2♥ turn before Bowden put out a 4,500 value bet. Pearson snap called with Q♦T♦ for top two. Bowden up to 23,000. -- RD

4.58pm: Bettingen takes a hitBack in February Tim Bettingen battled his way through a then record UK field of 1,058 to finish fourth at UKIPT Nottingham. He's down to around 5,600 here in Newcastle. I saw him ship a large pot (the bet was 4,000 on the river) to Lee Cockroft who had the nut flush, which accounts for most of the damage. Sat to Bettingen's left is Owen Shiels (7th UKIPT Manchester) he's on 16,800. Not going so well is Phil Baker (10th UKIPT Cork) who's below starting stack on 8,300. -- NW

Bettingen's cookie is crumbling

4.51pm: Boredom bites BowdenI just received a text update from Alun Bowden, editor of PokerPlayer magazine: "Just value owned myself with trip aces. Down to 13k. Must not limp shit suited aces in (early position) due to boredom."

That's some sound strategy and metagame advice from the magazine man who has the unfortunate draw of sharing the same starting table as Chris Dowling, a double UKIPT final table finisher. -- RD

Alun Bowden: do as his mag says, not as he does

4.44pm: O'Connor in the spotlightThat's a literal statement. David O'Connor is sat directly beneath a bright spotlight on the top floor with 13,000 after three-bet folding to Peter Duffy. Duffy had opened to 350 and O'Connor came over the top for 1,150. Duffy wasted little time in coming back over the top for 3,000 and O'Connor sat shining in his seat, light bouncing off his dome. He finally made a small grimace and passed his hand.

O'Connor finished second at the most recent UKIPT where he scooped €41,200 as runner-up to Sam Razavi, who is also playing today. -- RD

UKIPT Cork runner-up David O'Connor

4.40pm: Late arrivals, exits and numbersPlayers are still registering for this event and among those I saw being led to their seat was Paul Marrow. The board is showing that 316 players are in the field today although with 40 minutes of late registration still to go that number will rise. Paul Hepworth and Albert Sapiano are the two more recent exits from the tournament. -- NW

4.30pm: ExitsA total of 14 players have exited in the first two levels (some of those may be no shows though) among those to definitely hit the rail are: Ning Li, Conor Clery, Andrew Taylor, Patrick Clarke, John Mason, Connor Hepworth, Luke Tatum, Simon Higgins, Ross Miller and Aaron Barry. -- NW

4.25pm: Play set to restartWe're about to kick off the third level of the day with one hour of late registrations left. We have well over 300 players confirmed and will get the final total to you as soon as we're given it. -- RD

Level three to start shortly

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Newcastle (in order of joy shown at a funny children's letter we read online): Rick Dacey (a lot, mild laughter - surprising given his usual levels of cynicism) and Nick Wright (grumpily accused Dacey of wasting 30 seconds of his life). Photos by Mickey May (we didn't show her, she was off shoving her camera in someone's face).